Saturday, December 3, 2011

By MARYA SALAMATBulatlat.com
MANILA – Labor and business found an issue to agree on when they
discussed last Monday the high electricity rates in the country and how
it burdens both sectors. In a forum held at the University of the
Philippines–Diliman, leaders from labor and business groups called on
the government of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to immediately
take action to reduce electricity rates in the country.

Participants to the forum dubbed as “Highest Power Rates in Asia: A
Labor-Business Consultation on Electricity,” urged Aquino to reject
petitions for rate hikes, stop hearings for such petitions, terminate
onerous contracts with independent power producers, and investigate the
PSALM Corporation and Napocor to determine the government’s true
financial obligations.

(Photo by Pia Arellano / bulatlat.com)

Members of labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and its federations,
the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA),
Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FFCCII) and the
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), stood united and
with blown-up images of electric currents they took swipes at the
“Highest Electricity Rates in Asia.”

“High electricity rates are a huge burden to Filipino workers already
suffering from meager wages and the increasing prices of basic goods
and services,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary general. The labor
center has twice rallied in front of the head office of Manila Electric
Company (Meralco) last month to protest the latest price hikes it had
imposed.

Price hikes in utilities reportedly dig deep into the pockets of the
Filipino working class, considering that their wages have not improved
much over the past decade. In fact, in a research with the title
“Prices and Earnings” released last August 2011 by UBS (formerly Union
Bank of Switzerland), where they compared price levels, wage levels and
purchasing power in 72 cities, they found out that Manila ranks second
lowest in price levels, second lowest in wage levels, and third lowest
in purchasing power..... MORE

By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com
HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac – “This is an early Christmas gift from the
Lord,” Mila Gonzales, 58, said, referring to the Supreme Court decision
ordering the land distribution of Hacienda Luisita. “We can now afford
to buy a carabao to be used for farming. Now, we can eat regularly,” she
said.

Gonzales is one of the hundreds of farm workers who trooped to the
nipa hut at the 11th street in Balete village, past lunch of Nov. 29.
All smiles, members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita
(Ambala) listened intently to their leaders and representatives of the
Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Uma) and the Sentro para sa Tunay na
Repormang Agraryo (Sentra).

The Ambala’s general assembly was held a few days after the high
court, voting 14-0, ordered the distribution of 4,916 hectares of land,
owned by the family of President Benigno S. Aquino III, to the original
4,296 original farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs).

“When we heard the news, many shed tears of joy. We won the first
round of the battle but there is still a long way to go,” Lito Bais, Uma
chairman, told Bulatlat.com in an interview shortly after the assembly.
“What we want is genuine agrarian reform.”

“If only the Cojuangco-Aquinos returned our land to us much earlier,
we would not have suffered so much,” Gonzales said. Her six children
finished only Grade 6. “How could I send them to high school with a
meager P9.50 ($0.22) salary per week? I could not even finish my laundry
with that amount.”

The P9.50 ($0.22) was the payment received by farm workers before
they staged a strike in November 2006. Under the stock distribution
option (SDO) scheme implemented in the hacienda, farm workers were
entitled to only one day of work per week at the sugar plantation.

Now, like the rest of the farm workers, Gonzales is dreaming of a better life ahead.

Genuine agrarian reform

The farm workers are preparing for their next move. First, Bais said
they will assert zero compensation for the Cojuangco-Aquinos.

Bais said the Cojuangco-Aquinos have long benefited from the land.
“This is where their wealth came from. This has also been the source of
their political power. The land is ours, they just took it from us,”
Bais said.
Reacting to the SC decision, Aquino was quoted as saying, “Let us not
forget that under existing agrarian reform policies, we are pushing for
two objectives: first is the empowerment of the farmers, and then
enough capital should be left such that there is also just compensation
for the landowners.”.... MORE

“In Durban, it’s time for governments to listen to the people, not the polluting corporations.” – GreenpeaceBy INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Filipino climate activists are pushing for a binding climate
agreement, but at the same time insist that the United States is also
sabotaging the ongoing climate talks.

As the Conference of Parties (COP) 17 to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) continues in Durban, South
Africa to discuss and find solutions to global warming, Filipino climate
activists from the Philippines warn of unpleasant results from the
climate conference. The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment
and the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) said that even
before of the start of the COP 17, top polluting countries signified
their unwillingness to cut their carbon emissions.

The UN gathering brings together representatives of the world’s
governments, international organizations and civil society
organizations. Discussions are focused on developments in the
implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the
Bali Action Plan, agreed at COP 13 in 2007, and the Cancun Agreements,
reached at COP 16 last December.

Kalikasan, however, pointed out that the United States, Japan, Canada
and the European Union already positioned themselves that there would
be no climate agreement, which will bind them to significantly reduce
their carbon emissions, in Durban.

“In the first day of the COP last November 28, US climate envoy and
lead negotiator Todd Stern reiterated this position when he indicated
that there will likely be no binding climate agreement in force before
2020,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE.

Bautista explained that the US continues to be the world’s “number
one carbon polluter,” and that it continues to refuse to commit to the
Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is the only international agreement
that commits countries to reduce their carbon emissions. It targets to
reduce global carbon emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012..... MORE

Egyptian officials say voter turnout for the opening round of
parliamentary elections has been the highest-ever in the country "since
the pharaohs". Exit polls suggest that the Muslim Brotherhood have
secured some 40-45 per cent of the votes.

Voter turnout was 62 per cent as announced by the head of the
election committee. The announcement follows a two-day delay in
publishing the outcome and the result still failed to paint a full
picture, with the vast majority of candidates now set to contest a
run-off.

Abdel-Mooaez Ibrahim did not announce the full results but welcomed the turnout as “the highest since the time of pharaohs.” More than 8 million voters of some 14 million have cast their ballots in the first round of parliamentary elections..... MORE

The father of free software philosophy spoke to RT on evil
developers, spying social networks, the almost-legitimacy of Anonymous
hacks and the condition under which he would take a proprietary program
and a million dollars.

Stallman is the man behind the concept that every computer program
must be free for users to study and modify as they want. This is the
only way to ensure that by using the software users do not compromise
their human rights, he says.

“Free software literally gives
you freedom in the area of computing. It means that you can control your
computing. It means that the users individually and collectively have
control over their computing. And in particular it means they can
protect themselves from the malicious features that are likely to be in
proprietary software,” he told RT.

The terrifying legislation that allows for Americans to be arrested,
detained indefinitely, tortured and interrogated — without charge or
trial — passed through the Senate on Thursday with an overwhelming
support from 93 percent of lawmakers.

Only seven members of the US Senate voted against the National
Defense Authorization Act on Thursday, despite urging from the ACLU and
concerned citizens across the country that the affects of the
legislation would be detrimental to the civil rights and liberties of
everyone in America. Under the bill, Americans can be held by the US
military for terrorism-related charges and detained without trial
indefinitely.

Additionally, another amendment within the text of
the legislation reapproved waterboarding and other “advanced
interrogation techniques” that are currently outlawed..... MORE

Ignoring
pleas from the Philippine government, China has defended its high
court’s death ruling on a Filipino who smuggled huge amounts of
prohibited drugs to the country.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry
hinted that the sentence of the Filipino will not be commuted despite
last-ditch appeal from Manila.

“I want to point out that China is a
country ruled according to law, and the legal system has sentenced the
Filipino drug smuggler according to law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hong Lei told a press conference.

Hong added the Chinese government has noted the Philippines’ earlier statements that it respects the court decision..... MORE

12/03/2011
The camp of former President
Gloria Arroyo yesterday said it will appeal the no-gadget policy to be
imposed on the incumbent Pampanga Representative at the Veterans
Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).

According to the Philippine
National Police (PNP), Arroyo will not be allowed to use cellphones,
computers and other communication gadgets once she is transferred to the
hospital detention facility in Quezon City.

Arroyo spokesman
Elena Bautista Horn said they will file a supplemental motion for
reconsideration before the Pasay City court that handles her electoral
sabotage case.

“She must continue interacting with her
constituents (in the second district of Pampanga),” she stressed, adding
that Arroyo may want to write a book using her laptop..... MORE

12/03/2011
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel
III yesterday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to explain
why its former chairman, Benjamin Abalos, has not been formally charged
for electoral sabotage for his involvement in massive fraud in the 2007
senatorial elections.

“The Comelec should explain to the people
why Abalos remains scot-free and has not been formally charged despite
testimonies of witnesses naming him as one of the masterminds of
dagdag-bawas in the 2007 elections,” Pimentel said..... MORE

A
work of an imaginary mind, was how Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday
described the alleged plot to kill former President and now Pampanga
Rep. Gloria Arroyo.

“It should not be taken seriously because the
public knows it’s not true, it’s fictional. If there’s really have a
death threat, they should all the more be thankful (to the government)
because the former President will be placed in a military installation.

“Why
would they opt for a house arrest if there’s really a death threat?
They will be compromising their own safety if they’re not secured,” he
said during a radio interview.

Lacson said it will be very
unintelligent of the administration to consider of inflicting harm on
Arroyo while she’s under the care of a government hospital, if indeed
the supposed threat is coming from the camp of President Aquino..... MORE

12/03/2011
The Bureau of Immigration
(BI) has deported an American fugitive wanted for trafficking and
possession of illegal drugs in the United States.

Immigration
Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. yesterday said Paul John Zambuto, 35, was
expelled last Nov. 28 aboard a Philippine Airlines flight to Los
Angeles following the issuance of a summary deportation order by the BI
board of commissioners.

David said the board also ordered
Zambuto’s inclusion in the immigration blacklist for being an
undesirable, overstaying and undocumented alien.

BI fugitive
search unit head Uso Dan Salasim disclosed that his men arrested Zambuto
at his unit at the Paseo Parkview condominium along Valero Street,
Makati City last Nov. 17..... MORE

By Arlie O. Calalo 12/03/2011
Police
arrested five persons for possessing at least 60 pieces of piranha that
is commonly found at the Amazon River in South America late Thursday
night in Caloocan City.

The seized prohibited species of fish
were immediately turned over to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources (BFAR) for proper disposition upon the approval of the
Assistant City prosecutor Darwin Canete..... MORE